Winners Stories: Customer first for The White Company

“It felt like we were winners before the awards were even announced,” says Daljeet Kaur, Head of Customer at The White Company, reflecting on entering the European Contact Centre and Customer Service Awards in 2018.

“Going through the entry process made us realise how focused we all were in putting the customer first. Processes that were implemented across teams were recognised and celebrated. As a team, the application process helped highlight all our successes and achievements,” she says.

“Winning the Best Large Customer Service Team award was a massive accomplishment for all of us and fantastic recognition for all the effort each member of the customer team has put in over the past two years.,” Daljeet says proudly. “We celebrated this win throughout the company, and it created further momentum to keep flying the #customerfirst flag.”

#customerfirst wins

The goal at The White Company is to handle all customer queries promptly to enable a shopping experience that is second to none. To achieve this, they take pride in their #customerfirst mantra and ensure that the customer voice is represented in all their decisions and objectives.

Occasionally, when something goes wrong, it is standard practice to go over and above, and think outside the box to put things right.

It was these sentiments that helped The White Company win Gold at the ECCCSAs in 2018. They were able to demonstrate that they were listening to their customers through a variety of platforms and proactively managing any negative responses. “We never want to leave them feeling without a voice; we value everything they have to say,” says Daljeet.

“For us, this is all about being personal, engaging, easy to do business with, convenient and reliable. Everyone in the business understands they have a part to play in #customerfirst and we have customer champions within the contact centre and all our stores. We use NPS as a measure of our success in delivering against this vision. When we entered the awards, it was 71 across both the UK and USA markets.”

“Our performance metrics support our commitment to the customer experience,” said Emma Dark, Director of Customer at The White Company. “For the ECCCSA18 award entry we had achieved 86% FCR and 85% of customers asked were happy with the speed to answer. We are working to reduce avoidable customer contact which had reduced by 24% in the year before the ECCCSA18 programme. And when we benchmarked our performance in 2018, we were above the UK benchmark on all sectors and third out of 68 retailers that were measured.”

Advice for 2019 nominations

Daljeet has some advice for those looking to enter the awards this year:

“Work as a team to write your nomination. Do not be afraid to tell the whole story and the challenges you encountered. Try to be succinct and include aspects that support your nomination from the customer, business and employee perspective,” she says.

When it comes to the panel or visit stage, Daljeet suggests: “Think about all of the things that fuel your vision and passion for customer and ensure that you get this across. Try not to go heavy with PowerPoint. Use the time you have to talk to the judges; the stats can be read in supporting documents at a later stage.

“Finally, enjoy the experience, know your topics and include different levels of employee in the process to encourage internal development and promote engagement.”